A former airline executive was cut out of her elderly grandmother’s will so
that she could leave everything to a former road paver who cared for her in
her final years, a court heard.

Helen Blofield “knew what she was doing” when she decided to leave all of her possessions to her friend Lionel Cranfield, a neighbour, instead of 40-year-old Leigh Cowderoy, a judge ruled.

Mrs Cowderoy, who had been in line to inherit her grandmother’s home in Colchester, Essex, accused Mr Cranfield of “coercing” her.

But Mr Justice Morgan, sitting at the High Court in London, ruled that the busineswoman, whose work took her around the world - living in Kenya and then Dubai - saw little of her grandmother and spoke to her by telephone only occasionally.

He found that the former airline executive, who now runs her own fashion business, had a tendency to “misdescribe” matters because of her suspicion of Mr Cranfield’s motives.

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Speaking outside court Mrs Cowderoy described the £150,000 estate at issue as "peanuts" and said she had brought the case "as a point of principle".

Mrs Blofield, a former doctor's receptionist, died aged 85 in October 2008, two years after changing her will in Mr Cranfield's favour.

The judge said Mrs Blofield, although frail, "knew what she was doing" when she made Mr Cranfield her heir and there was "no arguable case" that he had brought "undue influence" to bear upon her.

"I find that Mrs Blofield made a will in the terms of the will of November 13 2006 because that is what she independently wanted," he added.

"Having decided to make a will, she did not want to leave anything to Mrs Cowderoy.

"Her choice was influenced by her belief, or at any rate her hope, that if she made a will in favour of Mr Cranfield and told him that she had done so, that would help her because he would be more likely to continue to visit her and care for her."

He said of Mrs Cowderoy's evidence: "My overall assessment is that her hostility to Mr Cranfield, her readiness to think the worst of him at all times and her obvious interest in the outcome of the case led her to be over ready to misdescribe matters."

Mrs Blofield had said she was "not close" to her granddaughter – who she sometimes referred to as "that girl" – and the judge noted: "On any view, the times when Mrs Cowderoy saw her grandmother were very few and far between".

Mrs Cowderoy worked for British Airways for 14 years from 1989 before moving to Dubai in 2004 after which she never saw her grandmother again.

"I am prepared to find in her favour that she did phone her grandmother from time to time but probably not very often,” said the judge.

The court heard that Mrs Cowderoy's father – Mrs Blofield's son – Richard had been an alcoholic but was nevertheless close to his mother.

Richard had "behaved badly" towards his daughter and Mrs Cowderoy's relationship with him was "non-existent", the judge added.

She was understandably "terrified" of her father and "wholly estranged" from him – but that also "posed very real difficulties in her having a relationship with her grandmother".